Pete and I got back on May 8th. We had a pretty eventful journey getting home. We flew from Tallinn, Estonia on May 6th to Riga, Latvia (which is where Pete’s brother, Tyler, will be serving his mission!). We spent an evening in the center of the old town at a fairly sketchy (but cheap) hostel. We were in a room with 6-8 other people (never really got around to counting). While we were sitting on our beds, some policemen came in, looking for a guy who came into the hostel. Luckily, he didn’t steal anything. Riga was a great town–bigger than Tallinn. The old town was really nice, but I’m partial to Tallinn’s old town (of course). The people were friendly! People in Tallinn had warned us that “you know when you leave Estonia and enter Latvia ’cause it’s crazy.” I didn’t find this at all. I thought that it was clean, modern, and easy to navigate.

The next day, we flew to Paris. I was excited to go to Paris again (mainly because I wanted to go to a store called Springfield’s to get some of my favorite perfume). We got a super affordable airport hotel that was only 2 stops by metro from the airport. It didn’t work out as planned, though. First, we had forgotten how expensive Paris is 7 Euro per person for a ride on the metro for 2 stops!? And then we got on the wrong train–it didn’t stop at any of the smaller stops, it just kept going till it got to the center region of Paris proper. I had a mini freakout. Whenever I hypothetically think about all the things that could go wrong when travelling, I always tell myself that I’d be super calm and collected. But then disaster happens and I fall apart. Luckily, Pete is calm and collected, so he handles all of the disasters. I’m still getting over my uptight personality that has plagued me since I was a kid.

Anyway, we finally made it to our hotel (it took us nearly 4 hours to get there, when it should have taken 30 minutes). The hotel was perfect! Warm shower, comfortable bed, and it smelled clean. Because we didn’t want to go on the metro to get dinner, we wandered around the area. The area we were in was basically full of offices. It took awhile (it was a beautiful evening, so I didn’t mind the walking–Estonia was still pretty cold in comparison), but we finally found…. Ikea! So we went to Ikea and got some food there. Later that evening, we walked back to the same area near Ikea and got a later dinner at McDonald’s. We hadn’t eaten at McDonald’s at all in Tallinn (and only a few times in Hungary) so it was weird to eat there, of all places. But our choices were slim. And the nice guy gave us 5 packets of ketchup for free!

The next day, we made it back to the airport without any troubles. We checked in and went over to the terminal. I was sad that I couldn’t get my perfume, so I checked out the Duty Free perfume shop. Yeah, too expensive for me. We had standby tickets, so about 20 minutes before boarding, we found out that we both made the flight! (Relief!) We got business class. Seriously, I don’t know if I could ever do a 10.5 hour flight in economy anymore; we’ve been so spoiled this last trip with standby going to and from Paris. The flight was uneventful, pretty comfortable, with food that was too fancy (can I just have whatever they’re having in economy?–a question I didn’t dare ask). People in business class are so chic.

We returned home to see our awesome families. I got a haircut the next day. The next morning, we also woke up at 3:30 am, ready for the day. We got a lot done before 9 am–watching Shrek and other important things.

A week and a half later, I started my job back at Mamabargains.com–such a good decision/opportunity to go back there!

Pete’s still in the market for a job. Meanwhile, he’s keeping busy learning the ins and outs of networking. He’s also finishing up the last few requirements for his classes for this semester.

So, we’re home! And it’s good! We do love America. Sometimes, you have to leave your home country to realize how great it is to be from America.